WAR  ECHOES 


BY 

ERNEST  HOWARD  CROSBY 


The  Victory 
Enemies 

The  Battle  of  Atbara 
Woman  and  War 
The  Tiger  . 

The  God  of  War 
Russia  and  America 
My  War 

The  New  Freedom 
Peace 


3 

4 

5 

6 
8 

9 

10 

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12 
15 


Innes  &  Sons 
Publishers  and  Printer 


Philadelphia 

1898 


>y/ 

THE  BATTLE  OF  ATBARA,  APRIL  8,  1898. 

BRITISH  victory  in  the  Soudan  ?  ” 

“  The  enemy  clung  obstinately  to  the  trenches, 
and  were  bayonetted  in  them.” 

“  Nothing  could  have  been  finer  than  the  behavior  of 
the  troops.” 

Nothing  finer  indeed  ! 

White  Christian  soldiers  three  thousand  miles  from 
home,  in  the  pay  of  white  Christian  bond¬ 
holders,  bayonetting  black  Mohammedans  for 
defending  their  native  land,  and  setting  the 
example  of  bloodshed  to  brown  Mohammedans 
whom  they  had  already  trained  to  slaughter  ! 
Good  God,  is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  the  day  may 
come  when  every  sane  man  will  shrink  from 
running  a  bayonet  into  a  fellow-creature,  as  he 
would  now  shrink  from  torturing  a  baby  ? 

We  look  back  with  pity,  contempt  and  detestation  on 
the  times  of  the  rack  and  wheel  and  fagot,  we 
who  are  still  in  the  thick  of  the  Dark  Ages 
ourselves  ! 

A  ten-fold  better  man  is  the  true  Mussulman  dervish 
fighting  for  his  home,  than  one  of  these  Chris¬ 
tian  hypocrites  emphasizing  their  barbarian 
butcheries  with  chaplains  and  crosses  and  Te 
Deums  and  every  kind  of  shameless  lie  and 
blasphemy. 


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WOMAN  AND  WAR. 


I  SAW  a  lamb  gnashing  its  untried  teeth, 
Rending  the  fleece 
Of  its  own  brother,  piece  by  piece, 

Until  beneath 

Blood  trickled  red  upon  the  heath, 

And  stained  the  mouth  of  that  perverted  lamb 
That  mouth  not  made  to  frighten, 

But  rather  to  whiten 

With  the  innocent  milk  of  its  dam. 

I  heard  a  bobolink  in  June 
Forget  its  limpid  tune, 

And  choose  the  shriek  and  angry  talk 
Of  a  carrion  hawk  ; 

And  I  saw  it  swooping,  mad,  relentless,  down, 
Where  in  a  tuft  of  long  couch-grass 
Lay  an  unprotected  nest, 

Hidden  from  those  who  pass, 

But,  on  its  unnatural  quest, 

Spied  from  above  as  a  spot  of  brown 
By  this  unexpected  pest. 

“O  God,”  I  cried,  u  What  ails  the  universe? 

What  hell-born  curse 

Has  stirred  these  gentle  hearts  to  strike  ? 

What  anti-natural  taint 
Makes  devil  and  saint 
In  cruelty  and  hate  alike?  ” 


God  did  not  answer ;  yet  He  was  not  dumb. 
He  only  said  : 

The  worst  is  still  to  come.” 

And  then  I  seemed  to  see 
With  eyes  of  dread 

A  sight  most  monstrous  and  unwarranted. 
For  there  appeared  to  me, 

Sadder  than  ought  that  I  beheld  before, 
(Oh,  blasphemy  ! ) 

A  woman  urging  men  to  war — 

(Ah,  that  such  things  should  be  ! ) 

A  pu re-browed  maiden  urging  men  to  war  ! 


7 


THE  TIGER. 


DOWN  with  the  tiger  in  each  of  us  ! 

He  has  his  proper  place,  no  doubt,  in  the  econ- 

> 

omy  of  nature,  but  it  is  in  the  depths  of  our 
own  private  bottomless  pit. 

There  he  growls  and  mutters  as  he  chafes  behind  the 


bars. 

If  we  could  kill  him,  we  should  straightway  fly  into 
atoms,  and  if  war  and  lust  and  hatred  open 
the  grating  and  let  him  spring  to  the  surface 
he  is  sure  to  turn  the  world  upside  down. 

There  is  only  one  safe  course  to  pursue  :  lock  him  up 
firmly  and  securely,  and  pay  no  heed  to  his 
subterranean  roar. 


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MY  WAR. 


I  AM  a  soldier  too,  and  I  have  the  battle  of  battles 
on  my  hands. 

You  little  warriors  who,  while  fighting  each  other, 
are  yet  at  heart  agreed  and  see  the  same  false 
life  with  the  same  distorted  eyes, 

I  have  to  make  war  upon  all  of  you  combined,  and 
upon  the  infernal  War  Spirit  which  inspires 
you  in  the  bargain. 

I  set  my  courage  against  your  courage. 

It  is  fine  not  to  flinch  under  fire. 

It  is  also  fine  to  tell  an  unwelcome  truth  to  a  mob 
and  to  call  you  the  mad  lot  of  murderers  that 
you  are. 

It  is  war  between  us  to  the  knife,  and  I  will  not  tell 
you  how  well  I  love  you  until  you  are  shamed 
into  unconditional  surrender. 

Then  I  will  show  you  my  commission,  and  you  will 
see  that  it  is  signed  by  a  Commander-in-chiet 
who  may  wait  long  for  victory  but  never  waits 


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in  vain. 


THE  NEW  FREEDOM. 


i. 


AMERICANS,  you  once  were  free — 

Free  as  the  broad  prairie  and  the  forest  pro¬ 
found, 

And  then  you  led  the  world. 

After  your  Revolution  your  example  fired  France 
and  France  set  Europe  aflame. 

Without  battalions  or  men  of  war  you  were  in  the 
van  of  nations. 

A  mere  handful,  living  in  straggling  hamlets  along  a 
thousand  miles  of  narrow  seaboard, 

Without  arms  you  were  invincible, 

Without  a  fortress  you  were  invulnerable, 

Your  strength  was  your  freedom. 


11. 

Times  change  and  freedom  changes  with  them, 

For  freedom  must  from  age  to  age  be  born  again. 

The  political  liberty  of  Seventy-six,  the  equality  be¬ 
fore  the  law,  of  which  you  talk  so  much,  is 
no  longer  the  living  ideal  that  it  was  ; 

It  is  now  a  fossil  for  antiquaries  to  toy  with. 

Will  you  play  with  it  in  the  rear  while  the  nations  go 
marching  on  ? 


in. 

Think  you  to  lead  again  by  dint  of  armies  and  navies 
and  coast  defenses  ? 

Not  so  is  the  world  mastered. 


Spread  your  frontiers  ;  take  Cuba  and  Hawaii ;  be¬ 
guile  Canada  if  you  can  ;  push  on  over  the 
great  Southern  hemisphere  ; 

Will  those  lands  be  yours  ? 

There  is  only  one  possession  in  them  worth  the  cap¬ 
turing  and  that  is  the  hearts  of  men, 

And  these  hearts  can  never  be  won  by  a  nation  of 
slaves. 

Be  free  and  all  mankind  will  flock  to  your  standard. 

IV. 

While  you  talk  of  freedom,  do  you  not  feel  the  fetters 
that  are  fastening  on  your  limbs  ? 

While  you  hurrah,  are  you  unconscious  of  the  burden 
which  you  are  bearing? 

Are  you  never  weary  of  the  endless  task  ? 

Can  you  still  be  cheered  by  the  devilish  dream  of 
becoming  task-masters  in  your  turn  ? 

Up,  and  to  death  with  the  tyrant ! 

Let  there  be  no  half  measures ;  he  must  be  torn 
from  his  insolent  throne. 

Show  him  no  quarter ;  plunge  the  dagger  in  deep 
again  and  again  ;  let  him  welter  in  his  blood. 

v. 

There,  at  last  you  are  rising  !  Where  is  the  oppressor, 
do  you  cry  ? 

You  will  not  find  him  in  the  streets. 

Look  for  him  in  your  own  souls,  for  the  kingdom  of 
hell  is  within  you. 

There  reigns  the  greed  for  gold. 


There  it  is  that  you  are  either  trampling  on  your  fel¬ 
low  men  or  longing  to  be  numbered  with  the 
tramplers. 

There  it  is  that  your  rebellion,  your  revolution,  must 
begin. 

Set  yourselves  free  ;  away  with  the  usurper  ;  enthrone 
in  his  stead  the  new  ideal,  the  equal  freedom 
in  love  of  ail  mankind,  liberty  and  union,  one 
and  inseparable. 

Yes  ;  establish  first  the  kingdom  of  heaven  there  and 
all  things  shall  be  added  unto  you. 


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PEACE. 


EACE,  O  Peace,  when  will  the  nation 


Lift  its  eyes  and  understand 

How  thou  holdest  all  creation 
In  the  hollow  of  thy  hand  ? 

Thine  the  strength  that  stays  the  ocean 
Hypnotized  within  its  bed  ; 

Thine  the  power  that  keeps  in  motion 
Constellations  overhead ; 

Thine  the  orb  of  love  a-fire, 

Lighting  up  the  heavens  profound  ; 

Thine  the  suns  that  never  tire 

Swinging  planets  round  and  round  ; 

Thine  the  furnaces  white-heated, 

Where  they  forge  the  cosmic  powers — 

Where  the  sons  oi  God  once  greeted 
This  new-fashioned  earth  of  ours  ; 

Thine  the  strength,  serene,  unshaken, 
Which  can  master  self  alone, 

Quelling  passions  when  they  waken, 

From  thy  calm,  eternal  throne. 

Insult,  hatred,  cannot  reach  thee 
At  that  still,  majestic  height. 

Make  us,  like  thee,  we  beseech  thee, 
Conscious  of  reserves  of  might. 


Teach  us,  while  the  battle  rages, 
What  we  never  understood — 
This,  the  mystery  of  the  ages, 

Evil  overcome  by  good. 

Far  above  the  storms  and  thunders, 
Far  above  the  war  and  strife, 

Far  above  our  sins  and  blunders, 

At  the  source  of  strength  and  life 

There  I  see  thy  hand  commanding 
With  the  olive  branch  for  rod, 
Peace,  that  passest  understanding  ! 
Spirit  of  Almighty  God  ! 


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